The concept of a critical mass isn't new, but astro-turfing critical mass by throwing money at is is now a perfected business practice.  Right now they are easy to spot and there's a process for getting normal people to buy into it, but next year and the year after will be even more difficult. 

To sum up, the cake is a lie.

I've never heard the phrase "the cake is a lie" before. That's good.

Lol...Portal, man, Portal! Aperture Science?  Black Mesa? 

It's all new to me. Is it really a line in Portal?

What's it mean?

Lol, it's only one of the most famous meme's of all time.  It also has a science geek background.  It's a play on carrots and sticks for sales people.  Sales people go where the carrots are, avoid areas where the sticks are.  For science, starting with Doom "if the eggheads are right, we're all f****d", scientists pursue economically beneficial science without regard to morality or ethics.  These scientific advances are celebrated with minor kudos such as office cake in the breakroom.  Like rats in a maze, scientists no longer ask the big questions nor understand right or wrong, but simply pursue small incentives, even at the expense of their own or society's well being.  It's a truly dystopian concept.

We (science researchers) do what we must, because we can, for the good of all of us, except the ones who are dead.   Portal's premise is an artificial intelligence that sponsored a "bring your daughter to work day" in order to lure more test subjects into it's experiments as a way to kill all the ineffective scientists and conduct the experiments more efficiently.  It's also a poke at the idea that "History is written by the winners."

Also, 'when we die, I wonder if there will really be cake?' @3:40

I feel like I just learned SO MUCH.

Does anyone care that lots of the followers are fake or inactive?

I'm guessing they are using it as a business metric for contract negotiations. 

That's pretty brilliant. You'd have to be pretty savvy to understand the difference between follower counts and actual followers.

"The Twitter news is the latest blow for Justin who has endured a tough few months. He was dumped by girlfriend Selena Gomez at the start of the year and was booed on a recent trip to London after arriving two hours late on stage."

He really does seem to be having a rough year.

how much of it is his own doing?  not showing up on time?  work ethic? 

Selena dumping him -- depends on who you ask.

The rest of it is clearly his fault: bad attitude and bad work ethic.

It could just be that he's burned out after many years of being in the spotlight.